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OPINION

Stipanovich: Homestead exemption initiative shows disdain for local control

Although the Legislature was in no hurry to discharge in a timely fashion its constitutional duty to pass a budget, it did find time to continue its war on home rule, whether in the form of preempting local government control over ride sharing, usurping the regulation of vacation rentals, or dictating the terms and conditions of the use of public rights of way by telecommunications companies.

But the epitome of legislative disdain for local officials and the voters who elect them this year was the constitutional amendment legislators placed on the 2018 ballot. This amendment will add another $25,000 homestead exemption from non-school property taxes if approved by voters, as it certainly will be.

The effect of this amendment will be to reduce city and county property tax revenues from homestead residences by $600 to $700 million annually. This will inevitably result in some combination of decreases in the quantity, and perhaps the quality, of public services at the local level, where they actually matter, and increases in other levies, such as commercial property taxes and user fees.

A statement by the Speaker of the House said sending the amendment to the ballot ensured the average man and woman in Florida would have a great legislative session this year. (It should be noted in this regard that an investment banker hip deep in money will derive the same benefit from the amendment as a common laborer hip deep in debt, because the exemption applies to all homesteads.)

Numerous members of both chambers speaking in debate on the amendment lauded the boost to the housing market that will result from the new exemption and extolled the liberating reduction in the tax burden of Florida homeowners.

Hardly.

The average combined city and county millage in Florida is a little less than 11 mills, which means the additional homestead exemption will save a typical homeowner about $272 a year, or less than $23 a month. Your city will close a fire station and your county will close a library so state legislators can say they cut your taxes each month by less than the cost of a tank of gas.

This amendment, with its small benefit to individuals and great cost to communities, is just the latest manifestation of what has become an abiding animus on the part of the Legislature, which is powerful, toward cities and counties, which are not.

It is not right, but as Thucydides wrote, "Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

John "Mac" Stipanovich is a Republican lawyer and lobbyist who served as Gov. Bob Martinez's chief of staff.